Specifications

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Digital Versatile Discs

In January of 1995, Sony was the first to showcase Digital Versatile Disc technology after having announced co-development six

months earlier. Three weeks later, Pioneer, Time Warner, and Toshiba announced their own version of DVD, which had major

differences from the format developed by Philips and Sony. Immediately disputes started over which format should be used, since

each had their own advantages and disadvantages.

The

disputes did not stop until May of 1995, when a major report was released by leading hardware and software manufacturers

(Apple, Compaq, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, and Microsoft), stating that the two formats were not going to be supported by the industry when

there were clear advantages in using one format. The result was a mix of the two formats and the formation of the DVD Forum by all

companies involved in the two original formats (Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Philips, Hitachi, JVC, Sony, Thompson, Toshiba, and

Time

Warner).

In 1996, the specifications for DVD-ROM and DVD-Video were finalized and DVD players began to ship to market. One year later, the

DVD Forum worked on the specifications for the first recordable (DVD-R) implementation of DVD. In November of 1997, Pioneer

announced the first DVD-R drives, while Matsushita and Toshiba released the first DVD erasable (DVD-RAM) drives.

During 1998, a new coalition was formed to develop re-writable discs specifically for storage of data based on 25-year-old CD patents.

This

format was initially called DVD+RW and was not allowed to use the DVD logo after the DVD Forum ruled that it could not be

used in the branch technology. While the technologies between the two formats are similar, licensing rules dictate differences, some

which can be witnessed in the logo branding of devices and media.

Much like Compact Discs, Digital Versatile Discs are comprised of a continuous spiral of blocks (or sectors) starting from the center

hole ending at the outer rim of the disc. The blocks are only of size 2048 bytes, making the format less complicated.

There

are several types of DVD discs depending on their capacity and on the medium type.

The

main types of DVDs that differ as to their capacity are:

DVD disc

types

First side Second side

Total

capacity

First layer

capacity

Second layer

capacity

First layer

capacity

Second layer

capacity

DVD-5 4.7 Gb - - - 4.7 Gb

DVD-9 4.3 Gb 4.3 Gb - - 8.6 Gb

DVD-10 4.7 Gb - 4.7 Gb - 9.4 Gb

DVD-14 4.3 Gb 4.3 Gb 4.7 Gb - 13.3 Gb

DVD-18 4.3 Gb 4.3 Gb 4.3 Gb 4.3 Gb 17.2 Gb

DVD-5 - single sided, single layer (disc capacity about 4.7 Gb, the working surface of such a disc is situated on one side of it and

consists of one layer only);

DVD-9 - single sided, double layer (disc capacity about 8.6 Gb, the working surface of such a disc is situated on one side of it and

consists of two layers about 4.3 Gb each);

DVD-10 - double sided, single layer on both sides (disc capacity about 9.4 Gb, the working surfaces of such a disc are situated on

both its sides and either consists of one layer about 4.7 Gb);

DVD-14 - double sided, double layer on one side and single layer on the other side (disc capacity about 13.3 Gb, the working

surfaces of such a disc are situated on both its sides and consist of two layers about 4.3 Gb each on one side and one layer about 4.7

Gb on the other side);

DVD-18 - double sided, double layer on both sides (disc capacity about 17.2 Gb, the working surfaces of such a disc are situated on

both its sides and either consists of two layers about 4.3 Gb each).

AVS4YOU Programs Help - Appendix

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